Workbook · Part I
Lesson 139
I will accept Atonement for myself.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I will accept Atonement for myself.” In ordinary English: Accept the correction for yourself. Waiting for them to go first is the stall.
The idea is a sentence to use, not a theory to admire. It works where a story is running: a judgment of someone, a judgment of yourself, a belief that you are separate, an attack thought, a situation you have already decided about. Point the words there.
You do not have to believe it first. You use the words on one real judgment — of someone, of yourself, of a situation — and then you take the next ordinary step.
This is not saying
This is not a slogan for the day and not a request that you believe it first. Use it. Then take the next ordinary step — work, rest, a clear no, a kindness.
Why this can change a day
A spiritual idea that never touches a real person is how the ego stays in charge. Used on one encounter, it can undo a whole afternoon of ranking, defense, and self-attack.
In your day
Same idea, three ordinary places — a relationship or encounter, the case against yourself, and a situation at work or at home. You do not need a special mood.
With someone
You are kind in the room and cruel in the mind — a smile, and a case running underneath.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I will accept Atonement for myself.” You are not alone in the effects of your thoughts. Catch the case. Choose a different one. Then the smile can be true.
Toward yourself
A thought seems small, idle, harmless — commentary while you wait.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I will accept Atonement for myself.” No thought is idle. It leans toward love or toward attack. Before you speak, or before you tell the lunch story: which way is this leaning? If it needs someone to lose, drop it.
At work, at home, or in a situation
A bill, a number, a job title — money treated as what you are worth.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I will accept Atonement for myself.” Pay the bill. Eat. Rest. Then remember which law gets to tell you what you are. Care for the form. Do not worship it as identity.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
Manners are enough. The thought is private. It doesn’t count if I don’t say it.
Jesus’s way
“I will accept Atonement for myself.” Use it on the unloving thought that is actually running. He will send you back to the next person with it.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #340
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 139
Tina reads the official workbook lesson first. Then she channels. The video is the source. The notes below are study notes of that sitting — not a transcript, and not A Year of Forgiveness.
After the reading
In the video · Jesus speaking
This is the channeled portion — after Tina has read the lesson. Study notes of that sitting. Not a transcript.
- “I will accept Atonement for myself.” Will is free, and you have been using it to stay unhealed.
- He asks for the little willingness that is not theatrical.
- After Tina reads Lesson 139, the channeling is living “I will accept Atonement for myself.” He will not let it stay a slogan. Use these words. Do not swap them for a thought you like better.
How to sit today
Part I · Forgiveness
The idea is above. This is the one sitting this number asks — how often, how long, and the words. Not a second lesson.
- How often
- Two extended sittings, plus hourly remembrance, plus when temptation arises
- How long
- Fifteen minutes twice is the standard for this stretch of Part I
- Through the day
- A reminder on the hour — even a minute if that is all you have.
- When shaken
- When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair.
How
- Read Lesson 139’s idea (and the prayer or specific form it gives). Spend the sitting in that idea, then give the rest of the day to remembering it.
Longer sitting
Two extended sittings — fifteen minutes twice is the standard for this stretch
- Today’s idea is: “I will accept Atonement for myself.”
- Read the idea (and the prayer or specific form the official lesson gives). Spend the sitting in that idea.
- Say, slowly: “I will accept Atonement for myself.”
- Let related thoughts come. Return to the idea when the mind wanders. Give the rest of the day to remembering it.
Short / hourly
A reminder on the hour — even a minute if that is all you have
- Say, slowly: “I will accept Atonement for myself.”
When shaken
When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair
- Say, slowly: “I will accept Atonement for myself.”
These scripts follow the workbook’s own method for this number — duration, frequency, and the sentences it asks you to use. They are a study paraphrase, not a replacement. Read the official lesson at acim.org and follow any wording it gives that is more specific than this card.
Words you may not know
Full glossaryCourse words do not mean what church, psychology, or ordinary English usually mean. These notes are for this lesson — tap a word.
Other voices — Tina, Ra, Carla
Short notes from the four streams. The teaching above is the lesson. These are doors if you want them.
Spalding
“I will accept Atonement for myself.” Will is free, and you have been using it to stay unhealed. He asks for the little willingness that is not theatrical. God’s Will is happiness. The other will is the overlay’s plan. Pick, then live the pick.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
This lesson is practice in polarizing with the person in front of you. Service to others is not a slogan. It is whether you treat them as the same being you are.
Open streamRueckert
A wanderer on Earth does not need a different lesson. She needs this one, done with her hands. Carla's whole archive is the proof: contact follows a life, it does not replace it.
Open stream